Mii and You

Mii and You #3

Hello fellow Nintendo folks. In the four weeks since this column launched the GameSpy Wii has sent out over 25 invites to readers to share Wii Friends Codes and it has received well over 100 random Miis through the power of the Mii Plaza. Interestingly enough, I expect the reader feedback to be a mixture of positive and negative -- as so often is the way -- but for the most part, everyone's been really supportive and happy with how things are turning out. This week, I'll be posing some issues that have come up as well as answer a few more questions that you've kindly submitted.

This past week saw flashing blue lights on every Wii connected to the Internet around the globe. Upon further investigation -- and shortly after powering up the GameSpy Wii -- I received an email alert from both Nintendo and Opera stating that the Wii Internet Browser was complete, final, and ready to be downloaded via the shopping channel. Huzzah! After briefly checking out the trial version that had been available for some time, I was finally able to download the complete version and run some tests.

Nintendo made note in the press release that the browser will be available for free to everyone until June 30th of this year. After that time, it'll cost 500 Wii Points to snag. My personal feelings on this matter are that it's a little cheap to charge folks for something as fundamentally basic as a browser, especially when most people (gamers and non-gamers alike) have regular computers with browsing capabilities. So get it now, or pay the price later.

Opera browsing -- free for a limited time!

After spending a good amount of time with the browser, I'm pretty pleased with its functionality. Sure it can't compete with a fully loaded PC browser like Internet Explorer, but it's pretty good. The predictive text features and the quick and accurate nature of the Wii remote make it easy to type in long URLs. Sure, it's not as good as a keyboard solution, but it's much nicer than that of, say, the PSP's built-in browser. If surfing the net on your Wii is important to you, then do yourself a favor and check it out. I think I'm going to stick to my trusty Dell in the meantime.

The next topic up for discussion came to mind after reading and approving our latest Wii review -- Prince of Persia: Rival Swords. The reviewer makes mention of the fact that the game costs a hefty $50 but is essentially the same game as The Two Thrones which released in 2005 for the PS2, GameCube and Xbox. Just because the developer added in some cool controls for the Wii controllers, does that justify a full-priced tag? Consider that the GameCube version of the game could easily be bought for less than 20 bucks and would run just fine on the Wii through the backwards compatibility. Are developers and publishers making this a new trend for Wii owners?

Finally, I'll touch in the subject of Capcom's recent Wii announcements. Both Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition and Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles got some love on GameSpy at the end of last week when Capcom's gamer's day event wrapped in San Francisco. Naturally, we have new previews and media from the event (we've even got something on Project Treasure Island Z) but here's my question: Do you think that Capcom is taking the easy way out by rehashing old RE content for the Wii? Would you prefer to see Resident Evil 5 hit the Wii at the same time it hits the PS3 and Xbox 360? I know I would...